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A delicious accompaniment to celery and carrot sticks, sliced red, green and yellow peppers, smeared on a sandwich base or merely sitting along side a mouth-watering salad bowl, this is so easy to make and you can make it as crunchy or as smooth as you like.

Dawn: This is so simple and tasty to make…I’ve been nibbling on celery sticks dipped into this gorgeous burnt orange coloured yummyiness as I’m writing this recipe!

Ingredients

200g chickpeas, drained

1 red pepper, washed, de-cored and slices

3tps of oil (sunflower used here and you can use extra virgin olive oil, if you prefer and have it in)

2tbsps of tahini

1tsp ground paprika

Salt and pepper to season

Method

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz them together until they are a consistency you prefer.

Season and serve.

Dawn: It really is this simple! Try it and see for yourselves.

Andrew: I don’t mind if I do! Thanks, Dawn.

Dawn: Simple to prepare and make food, packed with taste and goodness. The aspect I like the most about preparing and making food is I know exactly what ingredients have gone into everything. Often, the ingredients will make a much larger quantity than if I’d bought a similar product in a shop and my recipes are full of tasty deliciousness that mass produced food is all too frequently lacking.

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Muesli – helps set you up for the rest of the day and can be crammed full of filling, nutritious ingredients that may include seeds, fruit – both fresh or dried – and nuts. Topped off with low fat natural yogurt and milk, it’s a divine way to start every beautiful and promising new day. And here you have a portable version of muesli to eat-as-you-go!

Next, put a piece of greaseproof paper on to a baking tray. This should be just bigger than the baking tray enabling you to curl it over the baking tray edges.

Dawn: Use a baking tray with a little depth to it so you are making bars that are nice to hold and gives you something to grip.

Put the sugar, butter and honey into a small saucepan and slowly melt the three ingredients, stirring them together. Don’t rush this process. When melted, add the cinnamon and stir in.

Now pour the melted treacle-looking mixture into the bowl containing the muesli and stir these ingredients together. The muesli will start to look darker and become sticky in appearance.

Pour the muesli sticky mixture onto the greaseproof lined baking tray. With the back of a wooden or metal spoon, smooth out the muesli mixture as equally and evenly as possible across the tray. Cover and allow to go cold before putting in the fridge. Allow to set. Or, alternatively, place in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 4, 180°C electric for 15 minutes and when baked, allow to cool.

Then simply take a knife and cut this very large muesli-looking ‘bar’ into as many smaller snack size muesli bars as you want to make.

Dawn: These bars make great energy boosting snacks for when you need an energy lift…be it eating breakfast on-the-go or as a tasty lunchbox treat for you and the family at work or school, through to staving off those niggling mid-afternoon hunger pangs in the office or simply as a Sunday afternoon walking break booster to spur you on your way.

These high energy muesli bars can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge and should keep fresh for about a week – if they aren’t eaten beforehand! They’re very scrummy – you have been warned!